Avoid Live Casino Bonus Mistakes – What are the most common bonus errors?

Learn how to convert live casino bonus money into real money and keep the winnings. To do this, you must first avoid bonus mistakes! (Image by digital designer from Pixabay)

Whether you join a new casino or it is Christmas, New Year, Easter, Chinese New Year, or the change of seasons, live casino bonus deals an attractive predisposition. The lion’s share of bonus offers often attract new live casino players. And if you are new to the iGaming scene, this is where bonus mistakes are most likely to happen.

FYI: Another term used by casinos is ‘bonus abuse’.

A 100% deposit match can double your money, a cashback can pay money back on your losses evening up the house edge, and VIP loyalty points can help you convert your regular betting into real money. However, as exciting as these bonus offers are, they are not always as straightforward as they look when using the bonus money you receive. This leads to bonus mistakes.

What is a bonus mistake or Bonus Abuse?

When you make a mistake playing with bonus money, there is a point in the bonus terms you did not follow. It could be betting over the minimum bet allowed for bonus money bets, creating bets that guarantee a win, like placing a chip on red and black playing roulette.

Or it could be something as simple as playing a game that contributes 0x towards wagering. Another common bonus mistake is letting your bonus expire because you were unaware of how long the live casino keeps your bonus balance alive.

We created this guide as a quick and easy way to understand how to make the most of your bonus bets by avoiding making mistakes by breaking promotion rules.

What happens if you make a bonus mistake?

Bonus Mistakes Guide! (Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on pexels)

Most people do not realise they made a mistake until after playing through the wagering requirement. That means you managed to convert your bonus into real money. Yet, there is a catch. The casino will review every bet made to make the conversion.

If at any point you break the rule of the bonus, the casino will not convert your bonus into real money. In other words, you wasted a lot of time with a strategy you may not have realised was against the terms and conditions of the promotion claimed.

First, this is not a great start if you are a new casino player. I have seen many YouTube videos saying a casino cheated them out of their bonus. Yet, when I looked at the casino bonus T&Cs, I could see exactly where the YouTuber didn’t follow the rules. I also kindly leave a comment because I hate seeing other players misled by an influencer who doesn’t understand how bonus offers work.

Below, I will cover the most common mistakes made by live casino players who have complained that a casino refused to convert their bonus into real money.

What are the primary causes of most bonus mistakes?

Two levels contribute to breaking the T&Cs or bonus rules.

Level 1: Not reading and understanding how bonus offers work at live casinos

• Some players do not know there are bonus terms to follow
• Simply not reading the terms and conditions of the bonus
• Not understanding how bonuses work in the first place

Level 2: See the accompanying table for the most common mistakes while using bonus money bets covered in this guide. Once you understand each possible error, you will have expert knowledge on how to avoid them.

Level 2: Bonus Abuse & Mistakes

1. Why is betting more than the maximum bonus amount a mistake?

Almost every casino has a maximum bet limit while you use bonus money. A common mistake is not realising this max bet limit exists. However, if you read the T&Cs of the offer you are chiming, you will almost always find the maximum bet.

What happens if you bet over the maximum bet allowed?

It confuses the bonus system. For example:

• Betting Over the Max Bet: If the max bet is $/€ 5.00, and you bet $/€ 10.00, you have already broken the max bet condition by betting $/€ 5.00 over the max amount allowed.
• Unqualified Bonus Money: The issue is when you win that bet. If you are playing Blackjack and winning $/€ 20.00 on an even odds bet, you now have $/€ 10.00 more in your bonus balance than the maximum bet rule permitted. You’ll use that extra $/€ 10.00 bonus money on other bets as you continue betting.
• Distorted Bonus System: With the bonus system distorted due to additional bonus money from betting over the maximum (money that should not be there), when it comes to requesting your bonus money to real money conversion, you’ll receive an unwelcome message from the casino.
• The message: ‘Your bonus wagering requirements are not fulfilled because you did not follow the conditions outlined in our bonus T&Cs’. The reason is that the system cannot accurately read legitimate bonus money Vs. illegitimate bonus money. You would have thought the systems would be more advanced, but they are not!

Morale of the story: Always look at the T&Cs and find the maximum bet allowed. In addition, read one of our livecasinocentral casino reviews here. In the bonus section of the live casino review you will find the ‘maximum bet’ listed for welcome bonus deals. However, if you also claim reload bonuses and other promotions from one of these casinos we’ve reviewed, make sure to check the T&Cs as they could be different to the welcome bonus.

2. Avoid attempting to guarantee a win

It is easy to think you can con a live casino on a game where you can guarantee a win. Yet, this is an age-old trick online casinos grew wise many years ago when the first bonus offers hit the iGaming scene. Have you ever read an article that says, ‘How to guarantee to convert your bonus 100% of the time’ ‘or’ ‘Guaranteed casino bonus tricks’? Many of these ‘guaranteed’ guides will tell you exactly what I am about to tell you not to do. This is because they are a con!

What is guaranteeing a win when using bonus bets?

• Covering more than 70% of the nets available.
• Or – giving yourself more than a 70% chance of winning a bet while using bonus money.

This applies to all virtual tables, live dealer table games, live game shows, and all other virtual casino games. The good news is that you cannot cheat online slots or scratch cards because the betting system is straightforward. So, how can you make the mistake of giving yourself a 70% chance of winning?

• Roulette Inside Bets: If you cover more than 70% of the numbers using inside bets such as straight bets, corner bets, split bets, or any other betting option and win, your bonus will become invalid. Each number covered on a European Roulette table with 37 numbers (0-37) is worth 2.7%. Therefore, you should avoid covering more than 25 numbers, which equals 67.5% of the board. If you bet 26 numbers, this is 70.2%, which is considered bonus abuse. Just that 0.2% over renders your bet and entire bonus invalid.
• Roulette Outside Bets: It is tempting to bet on red/black simultaneously to guarantee a win. The same applies to other even odds bets (1:1), such as high/low or odd/even. Also, each column and dozen bet, which pay 2:1, cover 12 numbers. You can bet a maximum of 2 ‘column’ or ‘dozen’ bets because this equals 24 numbers, 64.8% of the numbers covered. Bet 3, and you cover 36 numbers = 97.29% of the table. The other 2.7% not included is the zero, which columns and dozens do not cover.
• Sic Bo bets: The same system applies to Roulette as to Sic Bo. You must ensure you do not cover more than 70% of the betting options.
• Baccarat Bets: A famous trick some players will try is to bet on the ‘Banker’ and ‘Player’ betting options in a single round. Casinos consider this as guaranteeing yourself a winning bet. Although betting on ‘Banker + Tie’ or ‘Player + Tie’ is not considered bonus abuse. In addition, Hi/Lo games and Dragon Tiger bonus rules follow the same conditions as Baccarat.
• Other Games: There are more casino games on which you can stake more than 70% of the available bets. The ones above are just a sample of games. Live casino Wheel of Fortune game shows are the most difficult to judge. You will need to ensure your bets do not cover more than 70% of the wheel segments.

VIP Loyalty & Withdrawal Turnover: These rules also apply while making real money bets. Loyalty points will not count if you use any of the bonus abuse tactics above. Furthermore, casinos that require a 1x to 5x turnover on your deposit before making a free withdrawal may also refuse your withdrawal and make you resubmit it with a cash out fee added on top.

3. What is bonus expiry?

Your bonus money balance will have an expiry date on it at most online casinos. The casino automatically removes the remaining balance if you do not use all your bonus money according to the expiry date.

Here are 3 scenarios by which expired promotional or the expiry length of your balance can negatively affect you:

• Scenario 1: A mistake some players make is not understanding that bonus money will expire (mainly for new players).
• Scenario 2: Not reading the T&Cs to confirm how long you have to play through the wagering requirement. Nothing is worse than getting close to converting your bonus into real money, and suddenly, you log on, and your balance has disappeared!
• Scenario 2: Claiming offer with short expiry times. Some live casino promos will only last 3 days! I’ve even seen some that require you to play through wagering requirements within 24 hours.

Always check how long you have to play through your bonus balance and make a note of it.

Where can you check the bonus expiry? Look at the casino’s T&Cs. 99% of the time you will find how long you have to play through the bonus. Also, under you account profile, there should be an ‘Active Bonuses’ section that tells you how long you have. Another great place to find bonus expiry information is via the ‘bonus section’ in the Livecasinocentral reviews.

Fair Vs. Unfair Bonus Expiry

4. How can you avoid playing excluded games?

I already mentioned bonus abuse by placing bets higher than the maximum bet allowed in the ‘Why is betting more than the maximum bonus amount a mistake?’ My key point in this section was that the ‘bonus money’ Vs. ‘Wagering Requirement becomes distorted if you win the bet. The same scenario applies to placing bets on games excluded from bonus bets as well as those that contribute 0% towards wagering.

Fortunately, most online casino platforms have mechanisms that prevent you from using your bonus balance on excluded games or games that contribute 0x to wagering. There are 2 examples below, but you cannot reply on all platforms to implement these mechanisms, leading to bonus abuse.

1. The game either gives you an error message preventing you from opening it, or the error message appears when the game loads.
2. When the game opens, it gives you a zero balance, so you cannot make the mistake of betting your bonus money.

How does betting on excluded games distort the wagering requirement?

• If the casino excludes the game from bonus money betting yet allows you to place bets, any winnings will distort the bonus balance and wagering requirement.
• This is because the additional bonus money is invalid and is now mixed in with your valid money. For some reason, bonus systems are not sophisticated enough to differentiate between valid and invalid money. Therefore, future bets count towards the wagering. Once you play through the wagering requirement, the casino team will see the inconsistency and invalidate the bonus to real money conversion because the betting patterns are inaccurate.

Is betting games that contribute 0x wagering bonus abuse?

Yes, and for the same reasons explained for betting on excluded games. Why do some live casinos have separate sections in their bonus T&Cs for ‘Excluded Games’ and ‘0x Wagering’? The answer is, I do not know – it is pointless, but it happens, so keep an eye out for this. Even worse, casinos that allow you to bet on games with 0x wagering using your bonus could be accused of purposely misleading players and enhancing the chances of players making a bonus mistake. Not the best PR if the platform is trying to promote itself as an honest and trustworthy brand.

How can live casinos help players avoid betting on excluded games? It is quite simple. They should configure these games to show a zero balance when you open the. Therefore, if you try to place a bonus bet, you will receive an error message ‘insufficient funds‘. You will instantly know this game is excluded. Even better, and error message that explicitly states ‘You cannot play on this game while your bonus is active‘.

More Useful Livecasinocentral Bonus Guide

Are you ready to avoid bonus mistakes or bonus abuse?

I wrote this guide from years of experience playing at live casinos and claiming bonus offers. I have also written over 200 casino reviews and tested their bonus and promotional offers. These are just 4 bonus mistakes that online gambling platforms consider bonus abuse. They are also the most commonly made mistakes.

If you have already fallen foul of any one or all of the errors mentioned above, don’t feel disheartened just yet. Arm yourself with the correct information, read casino reviews, and meticulously check the terms and conditions of bonus or promotional offers before you play. And remember, everyone makes mistakes in the beginning. Once you gain enough experience, you’ll become an expert in no time, and you can start having as much fun as we do playing with live dealer game bonuses and promotional deals!

New to online casinos? Keep reading the Livecasinocentral bonus and game guides via the live casino advisor category area. Each one helps you understand how live casinos operate. By providing you with these guide, the end goal for us is to provide you with information that maximises your winnings and entertainment!